Gardening Archives | Modern Self-Reliance

Lauren April 28, 2018 Leave a Comment

Soil Sampling: Why Bother?

Many college co-op or extensions offer soil sampling. Why bother paying to have your soil tested?

Now is the time, right before the summer garden season kicks off to get your soil tested. This can happen in the fall or the spring, as the mineral contents don't change over the winter. But as it's spring, sample now!

#1 Soil Sampling clears up the unknown

If you are living in a urban or semi-urban community where lead paint was used on homes, that lead pain falls in to the soil over time. This can result in your garden plants taking up that lead and transmitting it into you. Don't you want to know?

While this is specifically an urban problem, soil sampling can tell you what macro and micro nutrients you soil needs. Otherwise, there is little way of knowing what your soil contains. This is very important if it's your first few years of gardening and the land history is unknown.

For me, I have used the same community garden plot for the last 2 years. I did some crop rotation, but not very much. Before those 2 years, I have no idea what the soil was used for. It is right next to a soccer field, and behind some homes. My soil sample let me know the health of the soil. Consider it like an annual physical for your garden, get yourself tested!

My soil sampling results

#2 They recommend amendments

I got my soil tested through UMass Extension: Soil and Plant Nutrient Testing Laboratory. In addition to telling me what was in my soil they also made recommendation with what my garden needed this year. As it turns out, my use of Miracle Grow was perhaps a bit excessive and now the soil has excessive Phosphorous. Without this soil test, I would have continued to use my Miracle Grow, and put the soil even more out of balance.

#3 Soil Sampling is pretty cheap

It was $15 for the soil test and approximately $6 for the post office to ship my dirt. I could have hand delivered the dirt and saved shipping if I was close enough to drive there. This $21 fee is a small price to pay for knowing how to make my garden the most productive it can be. I have limited space, I need it to be operating at peak performance as I don't have too much room for failure.

Soil Sample Ready to Ship

Conclusion

Ready to get your soil tested? Be sure to find a soil sampling place close to you. They can make specific recommendations for your region and growing conditions.

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Soil Sampling for Your Garden | Modern Self-Reliance

Lauren March 24, 2018 Leave a Comment

5 Steps to Planning your Garden in Winter for Summer Success

Today is a snow day. The kind of snow that is wet and heavy flakes that cling to the trees. Each tree is given it's own winter coat, to shine in the sun and brighten the day. I love this kind of winter day!

I also love gardening in the spring. To each it's own time. But now is the time to start planning for the summer garden. This gets me excited, and a snowy day seems perfect to plan for warmer weather.

Step 1: What do you Eat?

This may seem like a ridiculous question, but I firmly believe in growing what you eat. Many people will say to grow lettuce, it's easy to grow. But if you don't eat lettuce, don't grow lettuce. There are of course easier and harder vegetables to grow, but you should first dream a little and think what you family loves to eat.

If you need some ideas check out: 7 Actually Easy to Grow Vegetables for New Gardeners

Come up with a list of "would love to grow" vegetables:

tomatoes
rhubarb
peppers
garlic
onions/green onions
pumpkins
etc

Step 2: What can you Grow?

For each item on your "would love to grow", check if it grows in your climate and if it's a perennial that needed to be planed last year. Some plants like asparagus and rhubarb are perennials meaning, they can't be grown in a single season. Other crops like garlic needs to be planted in the fall, overwinter underground and will grow in the summer. I would love to grow oranges, but have you ever seen an outdoor orange tree in New England? Nope, we got apple trees here.

This may take a little research if you are unfamiliar with how your favorite plants grow. There is no shame in not knowing this, every one was a beginner once. Feel free to ask questions below.

Questions:

Does it grow in my part of the world?
Does it grow as a annual I can plant in spring and harvest this year?

Translate "would love to grow" into "can grow" vegetables:

tomatoes -> annual + grows in my climate
rhubarb -> perennial (can't plant now)
peppers -> annual + grows in my climate
garlic -> have to plant in fall to harvest in summer
onions/green onions -> annual + grows in my climate
pumpkins -> annual + grows in my climate
etc

My "Can grow":

tomatoes
peppers
onions
pumpkins/hard squashes/melons
zucchini/ summer squashes
cooking greens/lettuce
carrots + potatoes

Step 3: Where are They Going to Grow?

Deciding where to put your garden in your yard should be the place that gets the best sun. The more sun the better! For me, I rent a community garden plot so I don't have a choice there. But once you have your spot, measure how much space you have for growing. Remember you will want walkways between rows and on the perimeter for easy access all around.

Given you limited space, you may not have enough room to grow all that your family wants to consume. First look at a square foot garden spacing guide, like this one: http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/plant-spacing/ This spacing guide will give you an idea of how much space each plant needs.

From there you can start to allocate space in your rows with plants on your "can grow" list.

My "Can grow":

tomatoes -> 4 sqft per plant
peppers -> 1 sqft per plant
onions -> 4 -16 onions per sqft
pumpkins/hard squashes/melons -> 4 sqft per plant
zucchini/ summer squashes -> 4 sqft per plant
lettuce head-> 1 per sqft
carrots -> 16 per sqft

When you know how much each type of plant you desire to grow, you can start to think about how many of that type of plant you want. Do you LOVE tomatoes way more than zucchini? Then plant more zucchini than tomatoes, both plants take up the same amount of space in your garden.

There lists that show an approximation of yield per plant, say 5-10 lbs of tomatoes per plant. There are also lists available of plants per person for a year, which you can scale back for your growing space available. How Much to Plant to Feed Your Family

My "will grow" list:

Plant	Plant per SF	# Planted	# SF Needed
Tomato	1 per 4 sf	16	64
Viking Potatoes	1	24	24
Sweet peppers	1	16	16
Hot peppers	1	12 (chipotle + jal.)	12
Bush beans	9	468	52
Zucchini	1 per 4 sf	6	24
Peas	Along fences…
Carrots	16	384	24
Mustard Green	4	48	12
Eggplant	1 per 4 sqft	6	24
Butternut Squash	1 per 4 sf	4	16
LI Cheese Pumpkin	1 per 4 sqft (kinda)	4	16
Melons	1 per 4 sqft	6	24
Tomatillos	1 per 4 sqft	2	8
		Total growing SQFT	316

Once you have an approximate idea of what you plan to plant, then start to lay out a design on graph paper or in excel. Leave room for walkways, I leave 2 ft wide so walk between. However if you plant to use a wheel-barrel you may need more. I don't make my beds any deeper than 4 feet because it makes it difficult to reach into to weed without stepping into the bed. In general, out the tall things on the North side so their shadows don't shade out the rest of the garden.

Here is my grid design for the garden, which I plan with North pointing to the left as it more closely matches how I walk towards my garden. It's all preference really. This year I am adding potatoes, because I have never grown them and want to try. I am planting purple viking potatoes because they are not commercial available!

My garden plan 2018 | Modern Self-Reliance

Here is my design for the garden in pretty pictures with North pointing toward the top.

Step 4: Where to Get Seeds?

It can be a little tricky to determine how many seed packets to buy. Some packets are labeled in number of seeds (like big pumpkin seeds for example). Some are labeled in ounces, which is of course not helpful if you don't know what the seeds look like or how many ounces seed what area. Some seeds companies will tell you a general idea: 1 packets seeds 50' foot row. This means a single wide row of that plant, given it's spacing requirements.

This step requires some trial and error, as to how many packets to buy. For the garden listed above I buy 1-2 packets per variety of plants. But peas and beans I buy more like 3-4 packets. Buy some, and record how many packets you used in your garden. This will give you an idea of how many you need next year.

You can use seeds leftover from the last year, they may not germinate as well but they should be okay. In this sense, if you buy too many seeds then you can use them the next year. Consider these seed companies:

Step 5: When to Start Seeds?

For each plant you intent to grow, there is a recommended time to plant the seeds outside. For some plants, you can start the seeds inside where it's warmer to give them a head start on growing. This can help if you have a short growing season and need the extra time. You will have to research each plant and find something like "transplant outside 2 weeks after last frost" or "direct sow seeds as soon as the ground can be worked" or "direct sow 2 weeks before last frost".

Of course, you don't have to start seeds yourself. Plant nurserys sells plants garden ready, and start the seeds for you. You will have to decide what works best for you and your garden. See Starting Seeds or Buying Transplants: Which is Better for Your Garden?

The one date that most plant guidelines will revolve around is the date of the last expected frost in your area. This is the last night you would expect the temperature to go below freezing. Freezing temperatures can be deadly to small delicate plants, so it's best to hold them inside or wait till after danger of frost has passed before plants. Go look up the expect last frost for your area.

Living in Massachusetts, my last frost is May 1st. Where I leave a blank in the "Start Indoors" column means I will direct sow the seeds directly into the ground. For root crops like potatoes and carrots, direct sowing is the preferred method. I also choose not to start peas and beans inside and I plan to plant hundreds and it's not feasible for me to start hundreds of pea plants in my tiny apartment. They also do great direct sown, without the head start.

Plant	Start Indoors	Plant Outdoors
Tomato	Mar 1	May 1
Potatoes		May 1
Sweet Peppers	Mar 1	May 14
Hot Peppers	Mar 1	May 14
Bush Beans		May 1
Zucchini	Mar 14	May 1
Peas		May 1
Carrots		Apr 14
Mustard Greens		Apr 1
Eggplant	Mar 1	May 1
Butternut Squash	Apr 1	May 1
Pumpkins	Apr 1	May 1
Melons	Apr 15	May 15
Tomatillos	Mar 14	May 1

Planning your Garden Conclusion

We hope we gave you a solid place to start planning your garden. It doesn't have to be a huge garden, but whether it's big or small a little planning now will make your garden be a success. Check back here over the summer for updates on my community garden plot. It'll be an adventure, like it is every year.

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Lauren March 10, 2018 4 Comments

Why Apartment Gardening is NOT Part of My Survival Plan

I have the ability to grow plants in my apartment. I have detailed my indoor apartment growing system which I have used to successfully grow carrots, tomatoes, green beans, spinach, and jalapenos. (My Indoor Growing Systems) Growing inside allows you to grow through the winter and have fresh produce year round. However there are a few reasons, that I don't consider this indoor garden part of my survival plan. If SHTF I won't be surviving off this garden.

Quick overview of my growing system: I have 2 six-foot racks that enable me to have twelve 13-gallon buckets of dirt. I typically use self-watering bins that can hold 1 gallon of water in the base. I have several T5 grow lights on timers and a fan. To see pictures take a look here: Construction Guide to Indoor Growing Systems.

#1 Apartment Growing has Limited Square-footage

At max capacity I can grow with all 12 bins. Each bin is 12"x 14" approximately, which gives me a whole 14 squarefeet of growing space! Let do some math like the Martian and science this out. If I grow only potatoes:

12 potatoes plants
Estimated yield 5 pounds of potatoes per plant
60 pounds of potatoes per harvest
Seed to harvest: 17 weeks
3 harvests a year
180 pounds of potatoes a year
347 calories per pound of potato
62,460 calories a year

Now I have ~62K calories to ration as I need from my potato crop, or to supplement my normal supplies.

1500 calories a day = 41.6 days
- Entire diet of potatoes
1000 calories a day = 62.4 days
- 2/3 diet of potatoes
500 calories a day = 124.9 days
- 1/3 diet of potatoes

If I look at it another way, I have produced 171 calories of potato energy per day over the course of the year. If you really want to get scientific about this you will then have to calculate the calories you burned while planting, watering, checking on the plants, and harvesting. The calculated calories are for one person, as soon as you add spouses and children you can see it is just not feasible to grow enough potatoes.

#2 Apartment Growing has Massive Electric Needs

While running both racks I used approximately 200 kWh of electricity in a month. Since my apartment doesn't get any direct sunlight through the windows (poor urban planning), my plant rely on the high output lights for their energy. This means I need 6-7 kWh (7000 Wh) of electricity a day to keep the plants running. It's hard to imagine this amount of energy needed, since we can't hold a kiloWattHour of electricity in our hands.

Lets take a look if I decided to use solar to power my lights, and fan. This is highly inefficient since I am taking solar energy, turning it into electric energy, then using electricity to produce solar energy for the plants.

Consider this ~4 foot by 2 foot solar panel: Renogy 100 Watt 12 Volts Monocrystalline Solar Panel

It costs ~$134
It can produce 500 Watt-Hours during peak performance (direct sun)
Need 14 panels to power my T5 grow lights
14 panels would cost $1,876
Need 112 square-feet to put the panels

I think the apartment complex would frown on me covering their roof with solar panels. While this may be feasible for a house, it is not feasible in my apartment. Also as stated above, my apartment gets no direct sun, so solar panels mounted in the windows won't provide adequate light. Otherwise I would just grow my plants in the window.

If there is no electricity because the grid is down I am out of luck. If I am tight on cash, these lights doubled my electric bill from ~$50 a month to $100 a month. Which all depends on your electric rates. Either way, this is lots of energy to be pumping into a system.

#3 Apartment Growing has Massive Heating Needs

My tender potato plants need to be warm. While the plants can survive beyond their comfort zone (40-80 degrees F), I am looking for peak output so I need peak temperature. Potatoes are grown in the summer and harvested before it becomes too hot in late summer (+85 deg F). So my apartment should be kept at an optimal 70-75 degrees F to benefit the plants.

Most people, aside from nursing homes, don't keep their homes 75 degrees. The heating costs are prohibitive, especially when to below 0 degrees F outside in the middle of winter. I won't estimate the heating costs, as they vary widely by the given heating system.

In a survival situation when the grid is down or funds are tight, it will be difficult to keep the apartment at a warm enough temperature to optimally grow potatoes. Anything less than optimal temperatures will reduce the yields and reduce the calories produced.

Conclusion

Gardening inside an apartment is just not feasible in a survival situation. You can't grow enough calories, and the heating/lighting needs would be significant. Gardening outside when nature provides light and heat are going to be a better option. Gardening in a greenhouse or hoop house during the spring and fall may provide between options to extend the growing season. Overall, I know I won't be relying on my indoor growing system for providing my caloric needs.

Do you have an indoor growing methods that could come closer to providing for your caloric needs? Share your system in the comments below.

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Why Apartment Growing is NOT part of my Survival Plan | Modern Self-Reliance